Recessed ceiling fixture having magnetically attachable and adjustable light source



M y 1952 A. F. ORDAS RECESSED CEILING FIXTURE HAVING MAGNETICALLYATTACHABLE AND ADJUSTABLE LIGHT SOURCE Filed July 27, 1951 oidooooooooooPatented May 20, 1952 RECESSED CEILING FIXTURE HAVING MAG.- N ETICALLYATTACHABLE AND ADJUST- ABLEv LIGHT SOURCE.

Arthur F. Ord'as, Hunterto'wn, Indi, assignor to; General ElectricGompany, a corporation of New York Application J uly- 2'7, 1951, SerialNo. 238,900

4' Claims. 1

My invention relates to illuminating devices and has significance inconnection with. the mounting of an adjustable light source with respectto a fixed member of semi-sphericalor parabolic shape. I

Heretofore, it has been known to have swivel'ed or slot retainedadjustable light sources which provide adjustable spot orfioodli'ghting', but for various reasons including limitations on lightsource movement and the high costof'the' known devices, they have notgained wide acceptance in many applications, not being generally used,for example, in homes. On the contrary, the generally accepted practicein illuminating av hom is to provide intense illumination forlimitedareas by means of floor lamps or table lamps, although it haslong been realized that such movable lamps have poor efiiciency, requireconsiderable main.- tenance, collect dust, are somewhat. inflexible,very often occupy the exact spot where. it is desired to have thehighest illumination,- and have cords which are sometimes allowed. tobecome hazardous from the standpoint of shocking children or trippingolder people.

It is an object of the present invention to provide simple and.inexpensive means for overcoming the above mentioned difliculti'e's.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a readilyadjustable ceili ng' fixture characterized by freedom of movement oflight source in more than one direction thereby to provide intenseillumination for a selectable portion.- of a wide area without the useof a movable floor or table lamp.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide acompletely enclosed lighting fix.- ture which allows, from. a pointoutside or the enclosure, ready positioning of the light source beam inany one of several directions While still allowing light to pass throughthe center of a small aperture provided in the fixture.

In accordance with the embodiment of my invention herein illustrated anddescribed, I provide a readily focusable recessed ceiling light fixturecomprising a spherical shell of magnetic material aifixed to the top endof a cylindrical member with an apertured cover plate fixed to thebottom end of the cylinder. The cover plate is flush mounted with theceiling and a reflector type bulb is mounted on the spherical shell bymeans of magnetic members so that it may be readily moved over the innersurface of the shell as by means of a plurality of draw cords connectedto the bulb socket and extending therefrom over eyelets to accessiblelocations beneath the ceiling.

In practicing my invention in its broader aspects, it will occur tothose skilled in the art that the relationship between a movable lightsource and a fixed curved surface may take various. forms. in that the.principles about to be dis* closed are equallyapplicable whether thecurved surface constitutes the reflector or, as in the illustratedembodiment, the reflector function is built into the movable lightsource itself and the curved surface is an unreflecting member.

The features of my invention which I believe to be. novel are set forthwith particularity in the appended claims. My invention itself, however,both as to its orgar'iization and, method of operation, together withfurther objects and advantages thereof, may best be understood byreference. to; the following description taken in connection with theaccompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is a cross-sectional view of aflush mounted ceiling fixture constructed in accordance-with myinvention, and Fig. 2 is a section view taken on. the line 2'-2 of Fig.1.

In the drawing, I havev shown a flush mounted 'ceiling fixture assumedto be built-in as though mounted during construction of the associatedbuilding. The fixture has an outer housing comprising a. cylindricalportion l0 provided at. the upper end thereof with a dished orsemi-spherically shaped portion H having a high content of iron. orother magnetic material. The cylindrical portion I0 is provided with amounting flange t2. which is secured as by nails [3 to buildingjoists.or rafters I 4 after which ceiling laths l5 and" plaster F6 are appliedaround the cylindrical portion [0' extending therethrough. Thesemi-spherical shell is provided to act as a mounting for a lightsource. which comprises a lamp bulb H. In the illustrated embodiment Ihave assumed that. bulb IT has a conventional builtin. reflector and is.of the well known spot or flood type. Bulbv IT is mounted in a porcelainlamp base I 8 which is provided with magnetic mounting means which inthe illustrated embodiment comprises a pair of blocks [9 of permanentmagnet material which serve to hold the base against the semi-sphericalshell portion II. I provide means for moving the magnet mounted lampbase I8 and bulb H, in any direction over the semi-spherical surface ll,and in the illustrated embodiment, this means comprises a plurality ofdraw cords 20 extending from equidistant points on a ring 2| (affixed tothe assembly of base 20 and magnetic members 19) through eyelets 22located at circumferentially equally spaced points on cylindricalportion Ill, with cords extending downward therefrom to terminate indraw cord attachments 23 (of which only one is shown, see Fig. 1) at anaccessible location beneath the fixture. Suitable flexible wiring 24 andwiring devices 25 and 26 are provided for the fixture and, if desired,the semi-spherical member may be provided with apertures 21 to allow forthe removal of heat therefrom. An ornamental trim ring 3| is fastened inany suit- 3 able manner to the rest of the fixture and according to theillustrated embodiment, I have shown this accomplished by members 28 ofpermanent magnet material and arranged adjacent the bottom of shellportion 10 and fastened thereto as by screws 29 and by magneticattraction engaging the top of the ring 3| so that thering is solidlysecured to the fixture while at the same time it is readily removabletherefrom.

An advantage of the present invention is that it allows, in connectionwith a movable light source, the use of a relatively small aperture 32not interfering with a general decorative scheme, and if desired theaperture may be covered with a lens 30 of translucent material toprovide a decorative closure for the hole and also serve to retain anyglass fragments which might result from an implosion of the bulbthereabove.

There is thus provided a device of a character described capable ofmeeting the objects hereinabove set forth. With the construction of theinvention, the projector type bulb can be readily swiveled around anydesired center and in any direction to any extent through an angle of 45from the vertical, or any other desired amount, so that the center ofthe light beam can be made to always pass through the center of theround hole in the ornamental ring. One advantage of this construction isthat it allows a minimum opening so that the ceiling light source isrelatively inconspicuous. The arrangement of the invention provides thatthe light source will a lways be constantly maintained in positionwhereever placed by the readily accessible remote control to provideintense illumination in a preselected area as for reading, writing,sewing, card games and the like.

While I have illustrated and described a particular embodiment of myinvention, modifications thereof will occur to those skilled in the art.I desire it to be understood, therefore, that my invention is not to belimited to the particular arrangement disclosed and I intend in theappended claims to cover all modifications which do not depart from thetrue spirit and scope of my invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates is:

l. A light fixture comprising a dished shell of magnetic material, alamp bulb, a socket for said lamp bulb, permanent magnet means formovably mounting said socket on said shell, and draw string means formovably positioning said lamp bulb with respect to said shell.

2. An illuminfating device comprising a bottom cover plate having anaperture in the center thereof, a cylindrical portion extending upwardlyfrom said cover plate, a semi-spherical portion of magnetic material atthe top of said cylindrical portion, permanent magnet means for mountinga member on said semi-spherical portion above said aperture, a reflectormember and a light source member with at least one of said lastmentioned members being mounted on said shell through said permanentmagnet means to be movably positionable thereon, whereby freedom ofmovement of said light source or said reflector may be achieved in aplurality of directions with respect to said aperture.

3. A recessed ceiling mounted light fixture comprising a semi-sphericalshell of magnetic material recessed in the ceiling, a porcelain lampbase provided with permanent magnet members fastened by magneticattraction to said semispherical shell, a reflector type lamp bulbmounted in said lamp base, a plurality of control cords secured to saidbase at equally spaced points around the circumference thereof, and aplurality of circumferentially equally spaced eyelets with said cordsextending over the respective eyelets to change the direction of forcetransmittal for said cords, whereby there is provided a readilyadjustable recessed ceiling lighting fixture.

4. A light fixture comprising a member of magnetic material having aconcave surface, a magnet slidably mounted on the surface of saidmember, a source of light secured to said magnet and movable therewith,and means for slidably moving said magnet on said surface.

ARTHUR F. ORDAS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,216,261 Ashley Feb. 20, 19171,483,306 Julin et al. Feb. 12, 1924 2,474,942 Hawkins July 5, 1949FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 128,699 Sweden June 27, 1950

